Teddy Devico

Fish, nuts, and seeds gone. Never are you to eat, touch, or smell them. If you do possible death. Worrying about cross contamination is awful. Did the clam chowder have fish bones? Did the pad Thai have fish sauce? Are there pistachios in the terrine? These are the questions I must ask every time I go out to eat. Allergies irk the restaurant and the diner that has them. I know from experience working in restaurants that when customers say they have allergies the kitchen staff gets very annoyed because most people do not really have the allergy. I do actually have the allergies and I feel bad when I have to tell the restaurant about my allergies. If I eat something I am allergic to I would go into anaphylactic shock. My throat would close and I would have to stab myself with an epipen and get rushed to the nearest hospital. I would do anything to get rid of my allergies. I am absolutely obsessed with food yet I have never tasted a morsel of sushi, tuna, salmon, Dover sole, bass, etc. The list goes on an on. I always ask people what these foods taste like. They try to explain, but it is not even close to actually tasting the food. A drug came out recently that enabled lactose intolerant people to eat dairy products. If a drug came out that enabled me to eat fish, nuts, and seeds I would be ecstatic. I would go to Masa, Sushi Yasuda, Le bernadin, L20, Esca, Marea, etc. and have the best seafood possible. I do not know if it is possible for me to work professionally in a kitchen with these allergies. Pretty much every station works with these ingredients in some way. I would not be able to saute a piece of fish, or work with nuts or seeds. I guess I would be able to work the meat station, but then how would I evolve as a cook? To become a chef you must work every station and master every station so when you become the leader of the kitchen you instruct every one what to do. If I was to be an executive chef I would not be able to taste the fish dishes, so I would not know if they were up to my standards. Maybe it would be possible to have a restaurant that had nothing I was allergic to. Would it be possible to have a restaurant without seeds and nuts? Yes. Without fish? Probably not. What do you (the readers) think of my situation? Also if you would like, please check out the rest of my blog which is hyperlinked in my closing signature.

How to Make the Perfect French Fries When choosing the type of potato to make the perfect French fries there were certain factors that had to be looked at. First, the percent of dry matter (starch) and the percent of water that was in the potato. Also, the sugar content played a role into the decision of what type of potato to use. The average percentage of starch to water in a potato is 17 % starch to 78 % water. The other 5 % of the potato is irrelevant to making French fries. Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck discovered that to make the perfect French fry the percent of starch would be 22.5% of the potato. If the potato had more than 22.5 % starch it had a tough, leathery exterior when fried and if the potato had less than 22.5 % starch the potato tasted bland and did not crisp up well. The potatoes that were consistently closest to this percentage were the Maris Piper and the Arron Victory potato. Some other potatoes that are good for French fries are Russet potatoes, Idaho potatoes, King Edward potatoes, and Sante potatoes. If there is too much sugar content in the potato it prevents the fries from crisping. The extra sugar makes the potatoes brown before they crisp so if you wanted to have crisp potatoes you would have to “burn” them if the potato had high sugar contents. The sugar content in the potato increases after the potato has been harvested or if the potato is kept in a chill place like a refrigerator. To make sure that your potato does not have a high sugar content either get potatoes that have just been harvested and that have not been sitting in a factory garage for months or you can get potatoes that were frozen the day they were harvested (I do not know if they have these). Potatoes are typically harvested in September, so that would be the prime time to use the very fresh potatoes. When choosing the fat in which you want to fry you potatoes there are a few things to consider. What is the smoke rate of the fat? Does the fat impart any pleasant or unpleasant flavors? Do you want the potato to not get any flavor from the fat at all? A high smoke rate for frying is key because if the smoke rate of the fat is below 400 degrees the fat will break down and cause the fries to taste burnt and fishy. Some oils that have high smoke rates are canola (486 degrees), peanut (448 degrees), safflower (509 degrees), and beef tallow (420 degrees), and horse tallow (475 degrees). Horse tallow is used by Alain Passard, owner of L’Arpege, to make his French fries. In America I believe a lot of people would consider using horse tallow unethical. Beef Tallow gives a great flavor to fries that can only be matched by horse tallow. Also let’s say you had extra duck fat around you can use that to make fries, but duck fat would impart a good flavor, but that might not be wanted in the end result of the French fries. Oils like canola, safflower, and peanut do not give of much flavor because they usually have Vitamin E. Vitamin E prohibits the transfer of flavors between the oils and the potatoes being fried. There is no best fat for frying, but if you want your fries to have an extraordinary flavor that most fries don’t have use beef tallow. McDonalds was using beef tallow in America up to 1983 for their fries, but McDonalds stopped using it because people did not like how the fries were so unhealthy. If you want fries with neutral flavor use canola oil, safflower oil, our peanut oil. Just make sure whatever fat you are using that it is very clean. I think everyone agrees that perfect fries are crisp on the outside and fluffy and tender on the inside. To achieve this there are numerous steps that need to be made. When cutting the potato for French fries the knife you are using or whatever you are using to cut your potatoes has to be extremely sharp. If the knife is not extremely sharp when it cuts through the potato it creates a rigid cut (whenever you have a sharp knife and you cut something the surface that you cut should be very smooth). When this rigid cut goes into the fat that you are frying in it will cause oil to get stuck in the crevices on the surface resulting in greasy fries. All of your fries have to be uniform in size so there is equal browning throughout. If you cut your fries too thin the whole fry will be crispy but there will be no fluffy interior. If you cut your potatoes too thick the crust will be cooked before the inside of the fry gets cooked. Once fries are cut to ¼ inch slices put them in salted cold water for at least an hour. There are many reasons to do this. One reason is that the salted water prevents the potatoes from oxidizing. Secondly, if there is too much water content in your potato the water will leach out of the potato to form equilibrium with the salted water (osmosis). Thirdly, putting the potatoes in the salted water will remove the excess starch that is on the surface of the potatoes. If the excess starch is not removed from the potato when the potato is frying the steam will get trapped inside of the potato which will make the potato have an unpleasant gummy texture. Also, if the steam gets trapped inside of the potato it cannot “block” the oil from coming into the potato. If the oil is not stopped from reaching the inside of the potato, the potato will be very greasy. Fries need to be cooked twice in a big vat of oil and in small batches of potatoes so the fat does not lower drastically in temperature and so the fries do not stick together. The potatoes must be extremely dry before put into fryer. Some ways to dry the potatoes completely are using a dissactor, a cyrovac, or a salad spinner (the most practical way). There is an initial par cook in the fat at a temperature of 275 degrees to cook the inside of the potato and then there is a second fry at 375 degrees that crisps the outside of the potato. You must initially par cook the potatoes in the fat because the starch in the potato has time to dissolve and glue to the outer cell walls to make them thicker and has a more robust flavor. Also, potato cells have granules of starch, which swell when the cellular water is heated, which forms a “puree” inside of the potato that gives the fries there fluffy texture. After the first period of frying the potatoes should be cooked through but not crispy. If the fat for the pre cook is too hot the potatoes will not get cooked all the way through on the inside and if the fat is too cold the fries will turn out to be too greasy. Once all of the fries have been precooked again in small batches, crisp the fries up in the same fat that was used to precook them, but instead at a much higher temperature. Make sure not to puncture the fries because that will make the inside of the fry collapse, like a soufflé, and the fry would not be as fluffy. The second the fries come out of the fryer drain them and then season them with good sea salt and any other flavorings you wish to impart in the fries. You season right after the fries come out of the fryer because the remaining fat that is still on the fries will make the seasonings stick to the fries. Serve the fries to the diners as quickly as possible. Maybe serve with some sort of vinegar sauce because vinegar (malt vinegar) pairs great with fries.

Yea this is my first restaurant job.

I arrived at Uproot restaurant at 4:00 P.M. with my Chef's Knife, apron, and chef's jacket. I started off by portioning risotto and stuffing them with sharp cheese. I tasted the cold risotto with the cheese and it was rich and sharp. It was very tasty. Then I rolled the risotto up into balls. I took these risotto balls and dredged them in flour, then egg, and then breadcrumbs. These were going to be fried and served as a bar menu option. After I finished the risotto it was time for staff meal. There was Sausage with peppers, Drumsticks, Potato Gratin, and a cucumber salad. It was all pretty good. I finished and went back into the kitchen and started cleaning up lots and lots of greens (two crates, which is like 500 greens). By cleaning I had to take the stem out, soak in ice water multiple times, spin in the salad spinner, and chop them up into even sizes. This was a lot of work. After the greens I had to supreme 6 oranges and thinly slice a box of cremini mushrooms. When service started I watched the cooks work and whenever they needed something urgently I would run into the walk-in to get what they were asking for. During this time I get to eat a lot of food. I ate pork belly, scallop, funnel cake, foie gras, a pizza (containing pork belly, duck confit, quail egg, caramelized onion, and Parmesan), beets, different ice creams, cranberry orange oatmeal cookies, and chocolate. All of it was really, really delicious. My dad came to pick me up at 8:15 P.M. and I arrived home tired and stuffed. I had to wake up at 6:15 the next morning for school, which is way too early.

When I got to Eataly (after eating at Bar Boulud) there was line just to get into the store! Eataly is right next to Shake Shack and Eleven Madison Park. Batali and Bastianich vs. Danny Meyer and Daniel Humm. Who is going to win? I was wondering if I should even wait, but I decided to and am very happy that I did. Eataly is massive. There is so much inside. The shellfish they had was absolutely stunning. They had live sea urchin, live prawns, razor clams, cockles, etc. There meat selection was also incredible. They had whole rabbits, quail, squab, sweet breads, tongue, livers, and ducks. The Salumeri looked incredible. They were prosciuttos, bresolas, hams, and salamis. They all looked ambrosial. The cheeses were also awesome. There were fresh mozzarellas, 36 month old aged parmesians wheels that smelt great. Then out in the open there about 20 BLACK TRUFFLES!! They were under a glass dome. I wish I could hasve smelt them. There was a pizza place that had two gold pizza ovens, like Donatella's new place. There was fresh pasta being made. There was a pasta restaurant and a fine dining restaurant by Lidia Bastianich. There was also a pastry and gelato shop that looked and smelt great. I cannot wait to come back to Eataly hungry.

Best Boudin Blanc ever. By far. Rest of the review here http://teenchefteddy.blogspot.com/2010/10/bar-boulud-review.html

you can use methycellulose to make a hot chocolate gel

A Craving for a great burger.

I think WD 50 it is. I hope I am as lucky as you to get a tour with Wylie there.

Thanks for the suggestions. There are just so many good places in NYC. I think I might be leaning towards Daniel or WD 50.

I would love to go to Le Bernadin, but I am allergic to fish. I am able to eat shellfish like sea urchin, crab, lobster, prawn, etc., but I cannot eat anything else (tuna, salmon, bass, etc). I do not know if it would be possible to go to Le Bernadin because all of the stocks probably have fish bones, and then the stocks are used in shellfish preparations. I would have to call them up before I go to see if it would be possible. Thanks for the support on the blog and I will try to keep lots of posts coming.

I am going to eat in NYC soon and cannot decide where to go. I have been to Jean Georges, Bar Boulud, EMP, Del Posto, and Bouley for lunch and was able to get away only spending about $30 for each restaurant. Now I have about a $100 budget for the next restaurant I go to. I know Per Se has a 5 course menu, but I do not know how much it is because the Per Se website is always down. I would like to try Marea, Daniel, Aldea, etc. There are so many good places and I need help on making a decison. Where should I go?

Bar Boulud was great. The charcuterie was fantastic. http://teenchefteddy.blogspot.com/2010/10/bar-boulud-review.html

You are not doing anything wrong. The browned flour gets dissolved into the braise and thickens it and flavors it. Once the flour is dissolved you see the flesh of the meat and it is not as brown because you browned the flour. I have never tried this but maybe you can do a double sear. Sear the meat without flour and then sear it with flour. That might work. If I try the technique I will let post the results.

saffron with orange

It was !

The cheapest way to get one would be to get one that was used at a lab. They will cost alot less, but you will need to clean it very very well before use.

Bar Boulud's Head Cheese For a full review go here http://teenchefteddy.blogspot.com/

BLT Prime Porter House Keens Wolfgangs Minetta Tavern Strip House

Take the stems off and them break them into pieces. Saute with butter, salt, pepper, garlic, shallot, and thyme. Extremely delicious.

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albert adria

This is very simple but maybe roasted bone marrow on toast with sea salt and black pepper